Can't Face Him
by Quiickest
Summary: Prompt: "You okay? You seem a little off today"


A low growl escaped through Oliver's dry throat as he turned over in the large bed, eyes squinting closed at the bright leds of his alarm clock. He manages to split his eyes open ever so much to stare at the time that's illuminating in front of him. _7:45 AM_. After spending a few more minutes doing an internal struggle on whether he should get out of bed today, the archer finally rolls himself out of bed and moves to the kitchen. The apartment is eerily silent, Oliver instantly assumed Thea already left, either to go to work or got a head start to the foundry (He still refused to refer to it as the Arrow Cave). Making his short journey to the kitchen, he poured himself a cup of coffee and found himself a seat at the kitchen bar and silently sipped his warm beverage. Oliver didn't hate the silence, he use to love the opportunity to have silence after adapting to living with noise, but now the silence was just a grim reminder of what he had lost. Clicking the home button on his phone, he watched the screen spring to life, prepared to be flooded with notifications on emails and next messages, both relating to his both his jobs. Blue eyes began to scan the list of notifications until stopping on the date at the top. In such a short moment, Oliver could feel the air in his lungs vacate and his throat tighten up.

"Goddammit" Oliver growls coldly placing the shaking coffee cup down. He didn't even realize he had started to shake

oOo

Oliver arrived at the the Arrow HQ later than normal, finding that Rene and Curtis already working on drills. His eyes shifted from them to Rory, who was probably tending to the rags of his suit, and once again shifted his vision to Felicity and Diggle, who were both sitting silently at one of the computer scenes.

"What are you still doing here?" Thea calls from behind Oliver, causing the older to shift his weight around to face the younger.

"What do you mean?" Oliver asks, keeping his voice shallow and emotionless like normal.

"You know exactly what I mean Oliver. What the hell are you still doing here?" Thea questions again, this time with more hostility in her voice. Oliver shifted his eyes, doing everything in his power to avoid eye contact. Felicity and Diggle exchanged a glance, also knowing exactly what Thea was referring too. Rene, Rory, and Curtis, however, were confused about the hostile encounter between siblings. There was an extended period of silence, causing the tension to slowly increase between the Queens.

"I don't have to answer to you Thea. Now if you excuse me, I have some work to get done" Oliver finally broke the silence before turning away from the disapproving hazel eyes of his younger sister and moving toward the training rage. He snagged his bow off its display with a hostile yank and moved away from the group of disappointing and confused gazes.

"Does anyone wanna tell us what that was about?" Rene asks after a few more moments of silence has passed since Oliver had left. The Original Team Arrow share a tired and sad look around before Diggle turns to Rene to answer.

"If you don't know, the I'd only assume Oliver doesn't want you guys to know." Diggle finally said before turning his view back to Felicity, who has been silent this entire time. Which was extremely rare. "Are you ready to go Felicity?" Felicity glances up at Diggle before giving a small nod and grabbing her purse.

"And where are you two going?"

"We have something… Personal to take care of today. Curtis, you're in charge of tech support today." Felicity says as her and Diggle begin walking toward the elevator exit.

"Can I tag along guys? If Ollie won't go, at least one Queen should" Thea asks the two as the elevator door slides open. Felicity and Diggle both give a nod before the younger vigilante moves across the room and enters.

"You guys can handle the city by yourselves today. Only call us if its an absolute emergency. Like, 'The city is about to explode', type of emergency" Thea says with a weak smile before the door slides shut behind the experts in this.

"Does anyone have any clue what happened today that could get Oliver, Felicity, Diggle, and Thea all in poor moods?" Rory asks Rene and Curtis, who hadn't noticed the other newbie had approached them from behind.

"Not that I know of, but we do have access to Felicity's computers. She might have a reminder or a way for us to find out what's up. I mean, we've been working with Oliver and his Team for almost 10 years, and yet they still don't tell us everything" Curtis said as he moved toward one of the many computers in the Arrow Cave. Rene followed shortly behind, his snoopy habits still remaining while Rory stayed back, not wanting to intrude in that sense.

"I'm going to go and talk to Oliver." Rory says before walking away from the two who would rather invade others privacy through technology than talk to the person in mind instead. Ragman enters the training room just as Curtis finally finished typing in the date into many search software. Only a few seconds did a personal reminder pop up in the corner of the screen, causing the the two sets of eyes to shift toward the new box.

"Oh shit…" Rene mumbles under his breath as the other just stared wide eyed at the notification. A couple news articles pop up only confirming their suspicion, and increasing their shock.

oOo

Oliver let another Arrow loose toward the swarm of tennis balls, and once again, missed them all horribly. Lowering his bow, his hands were shaking violently. He closed his eyes quickly to fight back any tear that could be attempting to slide down his face. At the shuffle of tennis balls moving across the floor, the green arrow began to quickly blink in an attempt to hide his emotions.

"I told you Thea, I don't have to tell you anything"

"Well good thing I'm not Thea" Oliver turned around to face Rory, who was standing only a few feet away, hands tucked into his pockets and relaxing back. _God he looks so much like…_

"What are you doing here Rory?"

"I was coming to see you… You okay? You seem a little off today."

"If I told you I was fine would you leave?"

"No. Because I know it's a lie, and I thought we agreed not to lie to each other anymore" Rory says as he approaches Oliver. With ever two sets the brunet takes forward the blonde takes a step back until they stop only a few steps away, in arms length. "What happened?" He asked again softly. _God dammit… He's sounding just like..._

What came next no one could have predicted. Oliver's whole body began to shake before tears began to stream down the vigilante's face. His grip on his bow slipped and he pulled his hands up to his leaking eyes, falling into a silent sob.

"It's all my fault…" Oliver mumbles as Rory does the unimaginable and takes a few steps forward to comfort his mentor. He runs his arm up and down Oliver's back, trying to sooth the crying male.

"What's your fault, Oliver?"

"H-He's dead. He's dead and it's all my fault and I don't have the balls to confront him" Oliver mumbles into his hands, not even fighting the feeling of being comfort or looking up at Rory.

"W-Who's dead Oliver?" Before Oliver had the chance to answer, two individuals come racing in, eyes still wide, somehow becoming wider when they see Oliver slowly breaking down in the training room.

"What the hell are you still doing here Queen? Get the hell on a train now!" Rene screams, grabbing Oliver by the arm and forcing him out of the practice room. Rory gives a confused look to Curtis who is aiding in pushing Oliver out. The normally ferocious Green Arrow was nothing but a bumbling mess as his proteges basically drag him out of the Arrow Cave.

"Get into something decent and get on the train. And before you complain, we already bought you a ticket so you are going. And you are going to suck up whatever self guilt bullshit you are feeling and you are going to confront this!" Rene was barking orders as Curtis placed a receipt for a train ticket into Oliver's hands and basically force him into the elevator. The door closes before he has a moment to argue, leaving him alone in the rising elevator. They were right. He's been pushing this off for almost 2 years. He has to do it, now or never.

oOo

The cemetery at Central City wasn't as full as the one of Star City, but it still felt too small for what it was. Oliver walked along the cobblestone paths, letting his subconscious lead him to his destination. His blue eyes were trained on the clear blue sky above head. It was too sunny and cheery for what today was the anniversary of. His feet stopped moving causing the vigilante to move his vision to a line of three graves on his left. Slowly approaching he stopped in front of the one farthest from the path. A small stack of red,yellow and white roses sat in front of the stone, blocking some off the words that were etched into it. A weak smile appeared on Oliver's lips as he bent his knees to become more level with the tombstone. This wasn't right. He shouldn't be at his grave, if anything, it should be the other way around. There were so many times where Oliver should have died, and he had always joked that he was going to be the first of them to die because of his stupid habit of putting himself in life threatening situations that he couldn't handle. And yet here he was, sitting in front of the grave of someone who was taken far too soon. He closed his eyes, trying to find the words that he needed to say. After a couple moments of sitting in silence, taking in the surrounding environment and the smell of cared for grass and roses, he let his blue eyes be exposed again. Sliding his hand over the roses, he pushed them to both sides, to allow his already misty eyes read the permanent scripture.

 _Bartholomew Henry Allen_

 _1989-2024_

 _Friend, Son, Husband_

 _And the Light in the Darkness_

"Hi Barry."

* * *

 **AN:I am not sorry! I love Olivarry so much and I love making my ships suffer! Besides there needs to be more Olivarry Love in the Community! ANYWAYS! This is FOR NOW a oneshot, but there might be a followup coming later on, all depends if you guys want it or not, So let me know if you want a followup fic to this (It probably won't be as long, to be honest)**

 **Anyways, please leave reviews and feedback, they are always welcome, and feel free to ask questions. Remember to log into fanfiction when leaving reviews so I can respond to them! - Quick**


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